60th Anniversary of 3 Авиобаза Graf Ignatievo (Bulgaria) 2011
On March 17, 2011, the most important and traditional base of the Bulgarian Air Force (BVVS) celebrated the (official) 60th anniversary of its founding with prominent guests, even though the roots of the site go back to the 1930s, when it was built with German support. Unlike during the author's visit to the celebrations 10 years earlier, the weather was extremely bad this time, but this had little effect on the programme.
Senior BVVS officers arrived from Sofia, among others in a C-27J. Later the aircraft was on static display.
A Falcon 2000 brought the guest of honour of the event, ...
... Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (front), accompanied here by Chief of the General Staff General Simeonov (centre), the Chief of the Air Force Major General Popov (to his right) – both former commanders of Graf Ignatievo – and the current base commander, Brigadier General Stoyanov (hidden).
In view of the prominent guests, the Bulgarian press was also well represented – with some quite interesting representatives.
The celebrations were opened with a march-past of a guard of honour, ...
... followed by the take-off of several MiG-29s and ...
... one MiG-21 for the subsequent flying displays.
Given the extremely poor visibility, the MiG-29UB solo display was more than daring, ...
... so that quite a few participants and spectators must have been relieved when the aircraft taxied back to its parking position, ...
... followed by the MiG-21.
In front of the hangars, various BVVS equipment was displayed: besides one MiG-21 ...
... and one MiG-29 ...
... a Cougar flown in from nearby Krumovo ...
... as well as various surface-to-air missiles, including this S-125 Neva.
